❛ ━━━ 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 ❜
☼ ┊ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑰𝑽𝑬 ... !
𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦

𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐊𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
📍 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢

"YOU COULD NOT SURVIVE THE HUNGER games, serena!" rafe practically cackled in his younger sisters face as they walked side by side. the pair had decided to go for a late brunch at the island club after rafe noticed how down serena was about the entire topper situation.

once serena had processed everything that happened between her and topper, she finally spilled it all to rafe. she told the entirety of the story to rafe and he was anything but pleased. while he believed that jj was most at fault, he chose to hide his opinion and be there for his sister.

he couldn't stand to see her sad, it was the one thing that could drive him absolutely mad. he hated the little crease in between her eyebrows when she sulked and as an older brother he felt a responsibility to fix it.

so this morning he let serena sleep in a little before taking her out to brunch. he knew his sister like the back of his hand and that meant he knew that pancakes could bring a smile to her face in almost any circumstance. even though the situation wasn't completely off of serena's conscience, it was certainly wiped away for a brief moment when she was with rafe.

"yes i literally could!" serena defended her skills. how the pair got on this topic she wasn't sure but she was almost hundred percent confident in her abilities.

"maybe if i was your partner, otherwise you're shit out of luck." rafe chided teasingly and serena shook her head.

"that's so not true! i took archery!" she pointed out, remembering the years her father forced her into the sport.

"you finished second to last at nationals." her older brother reminded her. he remembered that day like it was yesterday. ward was absolutely seething but rafe did all he could to shield serena from coming to that realization.

"exactly! second to last is not last." serena stressed, technically she wasn't the worst at her sport, "besides i'm pretty sure they all cheated."

rafe laughed loudly and looked down at his little sister as they walked, "you're saying all two hundred contestants cheated?"

"sure am." she nodded matter-of-factly and shrugged softly, "my bow and arrow was slippery, someone had to have put grease on it or something."

"aren't you an avid hand lotion user?" rafe questioned the girl, she was in fact an advocate for hand lotion.

"first of all, that's what she said," serena retorted causing rafe to chuckle, "second of all, can you just support me? i'm under duress here!"

"okay okay! you're right, they definitely cheated." he agreed for the sake of serena and she smirked.

"i know right." she replied which made rafe laugh once more.

growing up, serena and rafe never imagined that out of everyone in the family they would end up being the ones who were the closest. there was no rafe without serena and vice versa. they were always stuck together like glue, best friends that also happened to be siblings.

if you needed rafe, look for serena because he would most likely be with her. and if you needed serena, you better pray rafe isn't around because he didn't like sharing his sister. she was the only person who really understood him, who could see past his anger and dysfunction and just saw a human. and for that you also better pray you never hurt serena because if you do then you're most likely going to die at the hands of rafe.

"how about we just agree that if the hunger games ever happened in real life then we will be partners and protect each other?" serena offered and rafe sighed playfully.

"fine, we can be partners," he agreed before lowly whispering under his breath, "i'm gonna die."

"shut up!" serena laughed and smacked her brother in the arm causing rafe to wince and rub his arm while laughing as well.

when serena looked away from her brother she felt all of the carefree energy she had built up float away. her eyes caught onto topper in a bright red polo walking beside kelce. he hadn't noticed the cameron siblings yet, he was two busy ranting to kelce while making finger guns which was clearly about jj.

serena shook her head to herself at toppers obsession with the pogue boy. his lips stopped moving when he caught a glimpse of his girlfriend and his best friend. she expected him to turn around but he continued to walk towards her causing her feet to halt. she wasn't sure wether to run away or just hear him out. though when she felt her brothers hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her, she decided to stay.

"hey." topper greeted once the two boys were both one earshot of the cameron's.

serena let out a soft breath, preparing herself for this conversation, "hi."

topper opened his mouth to launch into whatever bullshit excuse he had crafted but he was cut off. the sound of a distant voice interrupted the four and drew their attention to behind them.

"hey, there's fourteen thousand volts in those wires!" serena looked over her shoulder to see a woman talking to someone on the dock, or lack there of.

serena squinted her eyes in attempt to see through the sunshine. though she felt her blood run cold when she caught a glimpse of familiar blonde locks.

"hey, isn't that sarah?" kelce spoke up just as sarah let out a tiny shriek when her balance shifted.

serena couldn't stop her feet from immediately moving forward towards her sister. seeing her twin balance on a wood beam above such high voltage made her heart race no matter how much she wanted to deny it.

"oh, you gotta be kidding me. sarah, get down now!" rose appeared and scolded her step daughter.

"rose, calm down! i'm an athlete, i got this." sarah called out, holding her arms out as she continued to shimmy down the poll.

"sarah, don't be an idiot! you're going to get electrocuted!" serena yelled before she could stop herself, the worry spilling out of her lips.

"she just wants attention." rafe huffed to the group but serena could barley hear anything as she watched in fear.

sarah looked up in surprise after hearing her twin sisters voice. she didn't expect to see serena here and now hearing the concern dripping from her tone shocked her. sarah continued to stare at serena, causing her next step to slide and send her tumbling forward into the boat.

her sudden fall caused serena to let out a shriek and run forward, the little girl screaming as well. gasps were heard all around them as the girl laid motionless in the boat.

"sarah!" serena screamed running up towards the boat to see her sisters face covered with hair and her body sprawled out.

"oh my god!" she could hear topper yell as well and run up behind serena to also check on sarah.

serena felt like her heart absolutely stopped, her blood ran cold and her eyes were widened in fear. she wasn't sure what to think at that moment, she barely could. all she could focus on was the fact that her twin sister laid lifeless in the boat in front of her.

serena could feel her eyes begin to well up before movement caught her attention. suddenly, sarah's head lobbed to the side and she looked up at all of them with a mischievous smile. sarah's hand lifted up and swung around the black wire tauntingly.

serena felt relief run through her body but it soon turned to pure anger. she could hear kelce laughing but all she could focus on was her sister finally moving. she couldn't belief that sarah would play such a cruel joke on all of them.

"it's disconnected!" sarah sat up with a loud laugh, staring past serena and at topper, "you absolute sucker!"

serena looked over her shoulder and noticed her boyfriend standing a few feet behind her with a straight face. his face was covered in a thin layer of sweat and he didn't even crack the smallest smile.

serena studied her boyfriends face and remembered hearing his scream behind her. he was just as worried about sarah as serena was, maybe even more. he hadn't even looked at his girlfriend yet, he couldn't stop staring at sarah as relief hit him.

"topper you should've seen your face!" sarah laughed, completely ignoring her sister's presence.

"yeah, okay, i'm sorry that i care," topper raised his hands in defense with a smile before he caught a glimpse of serena's glare and his face went pale, "about my girlfriends sister." he added.

sarah's smile also left her face when she heard toppers words. she wanted serena to see that topper cared and his little cover up annoyed her.

serena simply shook her head at her boyfriend and turned to walk away. a part of her wasn't even surprised anymore, she knew through and through how topper felt about sarah. it was all too obvious at this point.

"congrats, dumbass, you're officially on her shit list." serena heard rafe say to topper with malice laced through his tone.

topper turned to watch serena walking away and then back at sarah who was glaring softly at the back of her sisters head. he weighed the options he had in his mind, stay here and talk to sarah or run after his girlfriend and make everything better somehow.

he knew his heart skipped a beat for sarah no matter how hard he tried to push it away. though he also knew he needed serena, he was only who he was because she made him. he wouldn't be the kook king without her. so, he turned away from sarah and ran after his girlfriend as fast as he could.

"serena! wait!" topper called breathlessly and serena looked over her shoulder in surprise that he followed her.

she felt her steps slow down and stop as she waited for topper to catch up before sighing, "topper, i don't want to fight right now-"

"i'm sorry." he blurted making serena's eyes widen a little bit.

"what?" she asked, assuming she had simply heard him wrong. she had heard topper apologize maybe a handful of times in their entire relationship.

"i'm sorry, about all of it. about what i said, about leaving you alone on the beach, about making you feel anything but worshiped by me. i'm sorry." he apologized, seemingly meaning every single bit of it.

"topper," serena began to sigh and shake her head but he cut her off once more.

"no, i mean it. serena, everything i did was shitty, like so shitty it would break the shitty-ometer." toppers words caused serena to let out a soft giggle at his words, unable to stop herself.

topper felt a smile grace his lips as he watched her laugh before talking, "you were pretty shitty."

"i know right! like who gets the privilege to date the princess of figure eight and totally fucks it up?" topper joked and serena felt her lip twitch downward at the nickname 'princes of figure eight' but she ignored it.

"you." she responded bluntly and topper laughed.

"apparently so." he nodded, recalling his past actions.

the pair smiled at one another for a moment before serena felt her smile disappear slowly, her eyes darting away from topper. her boyfriend noticed this and felt his smile dissipate as well. he knew everything that happened couldn't just be pushed aside with one joke and an apology.

"listen topper, i don't want to be with you if it means that you're constantly thinking about sarah. i shouldn't feel like i'm an obstacle between you two being together. i'm not a second choice and im not going to be treated like one anymore." serena explained openly, finding it better to lay out her actual concerns rather than ignore them.

"i don't care about sarah," topper began but then quickly retracted his statement, "i mean i do care about her, she's you're family. i care about rafe and wheezie too. i care about the people who care about you. but i don't have feelings for her in any other way than a sister in law type of way."

serena practically choked on her own spit and exclaimed, "sister in law?"

"well, i mean yeah. you don't think about our future likes that?" topper questioned, he had always thought about their future.

"i-" serena felt her throat begin to close because truth is, she thought about her future but topper wasn't a part of it, "i, um, i think about the future. i just didn't know you did, too."

serena tried to avoid the words 'our future' to prevent an argument between the two. she had zero idea that topper ever saw them lasting beyond high school, maybe even beyond the end of the summer. she didn't think about her future being beside a man, or at least not this man.

"of course i do," topper reached out and grabbed serena's chin to make her look at him, "i'm in it for the long game."

serena tried to mask her distaste at his words. she felt like she was about to throw up as she looked into his eyes. of course she had feelings for topper, he was her boyfriend. but she felt like if was to ever marry him she should feel much more.

"wow." she blurted, in utter shock of the turn this conversation took.

toppers eyebrows furrowed and he let go of the girl, stepping back, "what? did i say something wrong?"

serena felt the urge to scream, "YES! this is all wrong! we are not meant for each other and you know it!" but she decided it was probably not the best thing to do.

so instead the girl just shook her head against her will, "no no, not at all. i just can't believe you were the one to apologize."

topper chuckled in the most 'bro' way possible and took the girl into his arms to hug her, "right? i was wrong for once."

serena just forced a smile and nod at his words as he tucked her head under his chin. serena felt icky in his arms, like his hands on her skin should be illegal. it made her feel almost nauseous this time and it never had before. it had always felt a little dull but in this particular moment it felt utterly wrong.

she wasn't quite sure why but she knew that the image of a certain pogue kept popping into her mind as she wrapped her arms around topper as well. she gulped anxiously, trying to rid the images of jj from her mind. her life was drama filled enough as is and jj maybank being anything but her enemy was the last thing she needed.

༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝

THOUGH SERENA HAD A SMALL LAPSE in judgement earlier and she knew it was a dangerous one, she still needed to get her scuba gear back before her dad noticed. she knew her father was going to be cleaning up tanny hill today following the hurricane so now would be a perfect time to sneak the gear back onto the druthers.

this led serena to walk up to the chateau for the second day in a row. she simply couldn't believe that she was here again in such a short amount of time, in an even nicer pair of heels. in fact serena never expected to be back at the chateau ever again but when jj refused to answer her calls in order to return the gear, she had no other option.

so, against her better judgement, serena walked up the steps of the chateau's porch and swung the screen door open. she didn't expect to be met with the pogues so suddenly but they all were stuffed into the small enclosed space, clearly freaking out about something.

the group all looked up at her in surprise, her arrival interrupting some sort of serious topic. serena met jj's eyes that were filled with stress and worry, he was clearly feeling out about something. she wasn't sure what but she knew it was serious.

"oh look, the other half of john b's black eye is here." kiara retorted with an eye roll causing both john b and serena to flip her off.

the pair looked at each other in shock of their motions being in sync. they both quickly put their hands down and looked away from one another.

"funny." serena said bluntly and closed the door behind her as she finally entered fully.

"what are you doing here? you look like you came straight from brunch." jj spoke up, taking in serena's pristine appearance. he looked the girl up and down, observing her twisted blue bandeau top, beaded maxi skirt, and her slick back hair style. he resisted the urge to keep staring, especially at the bits of her chest that were showing through.

"i did come straight from brunch." serena confirmed matter-of-factly and jj looked at her in surprise considering he was joking.

"wow, okay... we'll get back to that in a second." he found himself continuously being shocked by her new found kookiness.

"yeah, why do you keep showing up to my house unannounced?" john b added, crossing his arms and leaning against kiara's chair.

"it's not like i wanted to be back in your farm," she defended before adding, "i tried to call but all i got was jj's voicemail from eighth grade."

"it's not a farm." john b protested but was ignored.

jj found himself somewhat pleased at the fact that she still had his phone number. he had somewhat expected her to delete it after everything that went down but apparently she hadn't.

"cell towers are down, princess. welcome to the pogue life." jj said sarcastically, running his hands through his thick blonde hair.

serena watched in somewhat awe as his hair fell almost perfectly. she had began to forget what his hair felt like, it had been so long since she had ran her own fingers through it. she used to do her best to soothe jj after fights with his father and that seemed to be a way that worked well.

"classy." serena grunted, crossing her own arms over her stomach and glancing around at the area.

the porch was clearly a place that jj stayed often. she could tell by the fact it was riddled with beer bottles and random patches of dirt. she looked down at the boys shoes and to no surprise she saw his big clunky combat boots, the same pair he had been lugging around for two years. those things had to be the culprit of the dirt that was tracked into the place, they held mud like no other.

serena used to hate those stupid combat boots. they always made the most annoying clunking sound when the pair would walk. he also always went to put his feet in her lap and would drop patches of grass and mud. she almost smiled when remembering the little arguments they had over those stupid shoes. though the fact that jj was still wearing these shoes, despite clearly having grown, popped into her mind. she was then filled with guilt over the idea that he probably didn't have enough money to get new shoes.

serena pulled her eyes away from his shoes, noticing she had stared for a moment too long. jj hadn't been blind to the fact she had noticed the shoes and he suddenly felt embarrassed. he made eye contact with the girl and shuffled a little in discomfort.

serena noticed the embarrassment of jj's face and looked away quickly to take the attention off of him, "i need my tanks back."

"i already dropped them off." john b told the girl casually but serena's mouth dropped.

"what?!" she exclaimed, shocked by his idiocy.

"i brought them back this morning." he informed her, confused by her weird reaction.

"do you not remember me saying by no circumstances were you to go back to the druthers without me?" serena tried to jog the young boys memory, her words filled with anger.

john b was silent for a moment, his fingers playing with his bottom lip, "oh... yeah."

serena put her hands on her face, masking a wince when she touched her eye, and threw her head back, "oh my god, you can't even follow one simple instruction. did anyone see you?"

john b was silent once more following serena's words. serena waited for a response but got it when the pogue looked away in shame. serena's face began to turn red as the possibility of ward seeing him ran through her head.

"john b!" serena scolded loudly, officially freaking out.

"sarah was there." and suddenly the idea of ward being the one to see him was the lesser of two evils.

the fact that sarah was the one to see john b on the druthers was a million times worse than any other possibility. sarah could, and most definitely would, use this as some type of leverage between the three. she could tell topper or even worse, their father.

"oh my god! i'm dead, i am so dead." serena braced her head in her hands and began to pace back and forth, a tremendous amount of anxiety flooding her body.

"she said she wouldn't tell ward!" john b tried to explain but serena whipped towards him quickly.

"she's a compulsive liar, john b!" she yelled, practically stomping like a child.

"that i can agree on." she heard kiara agree from across the room but she couldn't focus on that.

"i can't believe this." she sighed, holding her hands in a praying formation against her lips as he mind raced through all of the things that could come with this stupid mistake.

"i didn't think anyone would be on the damn boat at five in the morning!" john b tried to defend himself but it was no use, serena was seething.

"i did! that's exactly why i told you not to go there without me!" she exclaimed and continued to pace back and forth.

if ward ever found out that serena had been in contact with the pogues he would absolutely flip. he had already threatened her on multiple occasions that if she was to ever be with the pogues again, he would disown her. he had also mentioned ruining the kids lives and she for some reason really didn't want that to happen.

there was also the possibility that sarah could tell topper. this would launch the couple into a whole new fight that would most likely be catastrophic and they had just made up. this could also give a reason for topper to seek sarah out once more. he could also tell her father. there was no way that any of this could possibly end in a good way.

"okay okay, i need someone to shoot me." serena turned to the group again, dramatically finding a "solution".

"i volunteer." jj raised her hand and serena glared at him.

"why is it such a big deal?" pope questioned watching the girl continue to freak out. for being the smart one, he wasn't so good at common sense.

"one, john b could lose his job if my dad even thinks that he was poaching our gear. two, i'm forbidden from hanging out with any of you. my dad would literally have a heart attack if he ever found out. who knows what he would do." serena explained frantically making john b realize how bad his actions could turn out.

"first of all, i don't think ward having a heart attack is that bad of a scenario," kiara spoke up, trying to reason with serena but she just glared, "second of all, we're not hanging out. you just did us one favor that doesn't make us friends."

serena went to respond to the girl but jj suddenly spoke up, "guys! we have way bigger things to talk about right now."

"right right, so you saw the guys that shot at us?" pope rubbed his forehead apparently recalling their previous conversation that was being held before serena got there.

the cameron girls eyes widened even bigger than before. they had gotten shot at? the group suddenly forgot about serena's presence as they launched into conversation.

"yeah." jj confirmed, a little out of breath from his previous hyperventilation.

"did you get a good description of them? what'd they look like?" pope questioned and serena watched in confusion as they all spoke.

"yeah, anything. anything is helpful." kiara agreed.

"anything we can bring to a police report?" pope asked and jj began to think.

"i'm sorry, you guys got shot at?!" serena finally spoke up causing them all to freeze a little.

the group all exchanged stressed glances, suddenly realizing they shouldn't be talking about this in front of serena. the last thing they wanted was for a cameron to become a part of their hunt for the royal merchant.

"um... no." pope denied very unconvincingly.

"you're lying." serena stated and pope quickly shook his head in denial.

"no-no i'm not." the heyward boy stumbled over his words, gulping roughly.

"you're sweating." she pointed out the sheen of sweat on his skin, clearly showcasing his lies.

"it's... hot." pope threw out the first excuse he could think of.

"it's the obx, you're used to the heat by now." serena said, hinting at the fact it was always hot in the outer banks. if you grew up here, which pope did, then eighty was practically a chilly fall day.

"we didn't get shot at." kiara spoke up, also trying to cover up their misspeaking.

"they were burly!" jj suddenly bursted, his words sounding like he was trying his best to hold them back but he couldn't anymore.

"jj! are you crazy?" pope exclaimed, motioning his hand to serena and the fact they shouldn't talk about this in front of her.

"i'm sorry man, i can't help it! i'm freaking out here!" he exclaimed, suddenly matching the level of anxiety that serena had previously been at.

"we can't talk about this stuff in front of a kook." kiara said and serena scoffed.

"you know for being pogues, you guys sure do care a lot about how money is a deciding factor of someone's worth." serena pointed out the fact that sometimes pogues were just as bad as kooks when stereotyping.

"no we measure by the persons actions. heads up, you're off to a bad start." kiara retorted sassily, bobbing her head to the side slightly.

serena didn't even have a come back, she was slightly in awe at how easy kiara could push back at serena. not a lot of people were as quick as serena when it came to sarcasm and arguing, yet kiara matched her quite well. she was almost impressed.

"shut up!" jj interrupted the girls and began fumbling with his next words, "these guys were like the type guys at my dads garage. i mean you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers."

"we know." serena as well as kiara both said, looking to one another surprised and then quickly looking away.

"so then i can tell you with full confidence that's these boys, these killers," jj leaned back against the brick wall, dropping his head backwards and taking a hit of his vape, "they're square groupers."

"like narco square groupers?" serena asked, not totally sure if she was believing this story mostly because she didn't even know what was going on.

"yes!" jj exclaimed, pointing to the cameron girl while temporarily forgetting about his disdain for her.

"hold on, since when is she involved in this?" kiara tried to speak up but was simply ignored by the group as the two boys kept talking, serena watched, and john b seemed to be preoccupied with whatever was happening in his head.

"okay so what does a square grouper look like specifically if we're throwing it out there? because apparently you don't know what to look for!" pope yelled and jj shook his head, annoyed.

"you weren't there, dude! i wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time, man! i was under duress, okay?" jj squeked, his voice becoming high pitched as he backed up, almost bumping into serena.

"but i can tell you that by the way that ms. lana was screaming that these guys are serious, serious hombres man." jj described, clearly shaken up by whatever encounter he had with these men.

serena was simply confused, she had almost no idea what they were talking about. these guys had shot at them but when and why? and how does ms. lana fit into any of this? serena had just talking to the women a few days ago before the hurricane. she had heard that scooter was found dead, which was pretty sad to serena considering he often helped with the druthers but she hadn't really looked into it.

as serena got lost in her own head she had noticed john b doing the same thing. she also realized he had been doing this for almost the entirety of their conversation. he seemed to be fitting around with something in his hand, that something serena recognized to be big john's old compass. serena scrunched her eyebrows, wondering what was going on in the boys mind.

"it's a heavy vibe right now, okay? i'm not liking this very much." jj breathed heavily.

"okay but why would they want the compass?" kiara asked as john b began to wonder closer to the group, holding the compass on his hand.

so this all has something to do with big johns old compass? the more and more serena heard the less she believed the pogues.

"yeah, that things a piece of shit. you couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." pope pointed out and then looked up to his friend who was still stuck in his head, "no offense, john b. i knows it's in your family-"

john b cut pope off suddenly, "the office."

the entirety of the group looked at john b in pure confusion. he seemed to have come to a ground breaking revelation so the group waited for him to continue.

"the office, my dads office. he always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his royal merchant research." john b emerged from behind kiara and pope to walk past serena, spouting off a bunch of information.

it all finally clicked for serena, "this is what this is all about? the stupid royal merchant wreck?" she asked but they all ignored her and followed john b.

the group walked into the house, leaving serena on her own on the porch. she looked around, not sure if she was supposed to follow them or not.

"um, guys?" she asked but they all continued to file into john b's house.

she let out an annoyed huff and walked in as well, throwing her better judgement out the window. john b let them all to his office, talking about how he hadn't been in there since his dad went missing.

"now that he's gone, i've just kinda... i just left it as he kept it." john b said, putting a set of keys out of his pocket and beginning to open the lock.

the group all gathered in the hallway, watching him get to work. serena looked at them all, a little freaked out by how john b was talking about his dad like he wasn't dead. of course serena didn't know for sure if big john was dead but it was the most likely scenario, it had been almost a year.

when she was about to speak up though jj looked at her and shook his head softly. he was telling the girl not to say anything to contradict the way john b was thinking. clearly, this was a sensitive topic for him and the group.

"yeah, for when he gets back." kiara nodded, trying her best to support john b.

john b pulled the  lock off the door and twisted the handle, opening it for all of them. they all followed as john b led the way, entering his dads office. one that serena hadn't ever seen inside of. she had spent the greater part of her childhood at the chateau and yet she had never been inside of this room.

they all gathered around the big table in the center of the room, looking at all the papers that covered it. in fact there were papers covering the majoring of the room from top to bottom. this was where big john had spent most of his time.

jj appeared next to serena, standing beside her as they looked at the papers. serena felt her heart skip a beat when jj's bicep bushed the top of her shoulder. she felt goosebumps arise on her skin and when she looked down she noticed that jj's arm had done the exact same.

"here look," john b brought over a tack board with a bunch of pictures on it, "this is the original owner right here."

"okay, robert q. routledge, eighteen eighty to nineteen twenty," kiara read off as they all looked at the picture john b was pointing at, "there's the lucky compass right there."

"actually he was shot after he bought it," john b informed the group, "then the compass was shipped back to henry. he was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. after he died the compass was giving to stephen and was with him when he died in vietnam." john b smoothly drug his finger from picture to picture, tracing the compass's journey.

"let me guess, he died in action right?" jj asked but john b faltered a little.

"sort of," he drug out before stuttering, "uh, a-actually he was killed by a banana truck."

serena let out a small giggle and jj looked down at her, a small smile on his lips as well. the others gave the pair a deadly glare causing serena to hold her hands up in surrender. she rolled her lips into her mouth to stop herself from further laughing which amused jj.

"anyways, after that stephen passed the compass down to my dad." john b said pointed to a picture of big john on the board, his eyes lingering there sadly for a moment.

"hm, seems like there's a reoccurring theme here." jj pointed out the fact that everyone with the compass has died.

"you have a death compass." pope nodded and john b quickly denied it.

"no i do not!" he replied.

"yes you do." pope responded.

"seriously dude, you should get rid of it! it's cursed and it's made its way back to you." jj said as john b walked away from the table.

"you guys seriously think a compass is the reason you guys got shot at?" serena asked, skeptical of this whole narrative they were crafting, "sounds to me like you guys were probably doing some bullshit where you shouldn't be doing some bullshit at and you got in trouble for doing said bullshit."

"can you shush? you shouldn't even be here to begin with." kiara tried to quiet the girl and got a dirty look in response.

"she's kinda right. we were doing some bullshit." jj confessed and serena raised her hands as a way of saying 'i rest my case'.

"oh my god, jj-" kiara went to scold the boy but john b spoke up once more.

"my dad used to talk about this compartment in here. soldiers used to hide secret notes." john b explained and took a seat on a chair across the room.

the boy began to screw off the back of the compass, a squeaky noise filling the room. the group all came closer to see what exactly he was doing when they saw that there actually was a secret compartment. john b pulled a piece of the compass off and began to shake it. the compartment opened but was seemingly empty until something caught serena's eye.

"what's that?" she asked and pointed to words engraved in the compass lid.

"that wasn't there before," he examined the metal before looking up at all of them, "this is my dads handwriting."

"how can you know that?" pope asked skeptically and serena answered, knowing immediately.

"the r's-" she began and john b started at the same time.

"he does these weird r's with the-" he stopped and looked up to serena with a pleased look on his face, "yeah."

serena had noticed the r right when she saw the engraving. she remembered when she used to have big john forge ward's signature on bad report cards. that was something that big john loved to do, he wasn't the biggest fan of ward cameron. he also cared a lot about serena, she was one of john b's best friends so he had zero problem doing it.

"what does it say? red-rout- no that's an a." jj tried to make out what the writing said but was so far off it was almost funny.

"it's says redfield." kiara spoke up and they all nodded.

"okay, well what's red field?" pope asked as the rooster outside let out a loud crow causing serena to flinch slightly.

"maybe it's a clue, right? maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding." john b said as the rooster crowed once more making serena huff.

"a clue? cmon that's-" pope began to deny but was sent a death stare from kiara causing his to clear his throat, "but if it is a clue maybe it's an anagram?"

"yes! perfect! an anagram, we need paper." john b said and grabbed a piece of notebook paper, slamming it down onto the desk in front of pope.

serena began to think of the possible anagrams for redfield but her thinking process was interrupted by the rooster crowing once more, this time finally setting off serena.

"okay, you and that damn rooster!" she complained, looking at john b who deadpanned.

"jj loves the rooster!" he explained and kiara spoke up as well.

"i love the rooster." serena simply rolled her eyes as the thing continued to crow.

john b walk towards the window, beginning to look over some other research. the others crowded around the paper and pope started writing a few possible anagrams. they also all began to spit out ones that could possibly work but most of them made no sense.

the name redfield sounded so familiar to serena but she wasn't sure from where exactly considering it was the most popular last name in the county. serena began to rack her brain for where she had heard redfield before. she suddenly realized that she hadn't heard redfield, she had read it.

"wait," she spoke up and they all turned to her, "redfield? like the redfield lighthouse?"

"yes! that was my dads favorite spot!" john b raved and pointed to the girl with a huge smile.

serena simply nodded at the boy until she looked up at jj and saw him smiling down at her widely. this caused serena's cheeks to turn hot and her lips spread into a smile. everyone in the group kind of looked at her impressed, they didn't know such a kook princess could be so smart.

though jj knew, he always had since they were kids. serena always helped the boy with his homework, even when his class was further ahead at the public high school than serena's was at the kook academy. she was so incredibly smart in every subject, he as always in awe of that.

serena and jj suddenly looked away from one another though when john b began to freak out. he was staring out the window he was by and trying to capture the groups attention.

"guys! somebodies here!" he told them and they all rushed over to the window, peaking out of it to see a huge truck pulling up.

hopping out of the truck was two burly looking men, definitely the ones jj had described. serena felt her pulse quicken as they all watched the men walk towards the chateau.

"those are the guys you were taking about, aren't they?" serena looked up and asked jj who was also looking out the window.

"yeah," he nodded and they all began to freak out, "john b, i told you man!"

jj began to ramble slightly but john b grabbed him and forced him to look at him, "hey look what me! where's the gun?"

"you still have the gun?!" serena asked in shock. she couldn't believe that they still had the gun that jj had pulled on topper at the bone yard.

"n-not exactly. i, um, i'm not sure." jj stammered, trying to think of where he had left the gun.

"now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" kiara's voice began to tremble as well as her hands.

"it's was in my backpack and then i-" jj tried his best to think of where he had last placed his backpack.

"on the porch." john b remembered and for a moment it felt like they had a chance of surviving this.

jj rushed to the door and opened it with a loud creek before hurrying out. serena felt her heart drop when the sound of a man calling john b's name came from the direction that jj had just ran. jj quickly came rushing back in, closing the door behind him.

the group could hear the front door being pulled open and slammed into the wall indicating the men where now inside and there was no way to get the gun. the men continue to yell for john b and the sound of crashing came from the living room.

"guys window!" kiara ordered causing pope and jj to run to the main window.

serena and kiara crowded behind the boys, waiting for them to open the window but it seemed to be no use. they continued to pull up but it wasn't opening, it had to be painted shut.

serena could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest, practically banging on her ribcage. her hearing kept going in and out as the sounds of the men kept getting closer and closer. she had never been in this type of situation before. the closest to danger she had come was when rafe accidentally set his pants on fire at the country club.

though serena knew that she would do anything to get out of this situation right now so she began to scan her surroundings. the glimmering of a blade suddenly caught her eyes, a knife on big john's other desk. she grabbed it hastily and ran back over to the boys.

"here!" she whispered, handing the blade over to jj who looked at her gratefully.

it was only then that jj realized that it wasn't just the pogues who could get hurt right now, serena was in immense danger as well. for some reason the thought of even one blonde hair on her head getting ruffled set jj off, causing him to plunge the knife deeply into the seal of paint. he began scraping at the window, breaking the seal as fast as possible.

suddenly the sound of the door knob trying to open caused them all to look back at john b who held his body against said door. the man on the other side then began beating on it causing john b to rush away. the door than began to break into shards as the man started to kick it violently.

the sound of a gun being fired near the door causing serena to let out a whimper of pure terror. she looked back to jj, her eyes now full with tears. he looked back up to her, his entire body flooding with sympathy and protectiveness. he suddenly gripped the top of the window and flung it open with all of his might.

he then turned back to the girl, grabbing her waist and pulling her towards the window.

he then picked serena up and helped her to hoist herself out the window. serena didn't even have time to be surprised at jj's actions of putting her before himself, she was too busy almost pissing herself. the rest of the pogues all began to flood out of the window one by one.

jj ran up to serena, putting his hand on the small of her back and leading her towards the chicken coop, "it's okay, cmon."

the group realized jj's intentions and they all followed the pair into the coop. jj rushed the girls inside, doing anything to make sure she was out of the men's sight. they all came in and sat down but serena continued to bend over, not wanting to sit in the dirt.

"serena, sit down!" jj ordered but she shook her head quickly.

"this is dior!" she grabbed her long skirt and whispered back.

jj rolled his eyes at her antics and shuffled towards her. she looked at him in confusion before he grabbed her once more and forced her to sit down. she was about to complain about the chicken poop and dirt on her skirt until she realized that he had set her on his lap to prevent her from getting dirty.

serena turned her head to look at him and just then realized how close they were. he was looking out the coop window with his arms wrapped around her waist but when he felt her gaze he turned to look at her as well. they were so close that their noses almost touched and serena could feel jj's breath on her neck. jj also could've sworn that he could hear her heart beating from this position.

serena gave jj a specific look meant to thank him for keeping her from begging dirty. he nodded once, acknowledging her thanks. they continued to look at one another until the sound of the men's footsteps where heard coming down the chateaus stairs. they both turned to look out the window, seeing the two men carrying a crap ton of box's from big john's office.

the sound of the rooster excessively crowing also caught all of their attentions. if it went on for much longer, there's no way the men wouldn't realize that the group was hidden in there.

"do something, pope. shut him up!" jj whispered to his friend.

"what do you want me to do?" he asked angrily, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"pet it or talk to it. i don't know." kiara told the boy, tears streaming down her face at this point.

the clucking became even louder as the noise of the man slamming the truck bed closed sounded off into the air. john b quickly ducked, signaling to the others that the man had noticed the excessive noise. the sound of feet crushing leaves also became noticeable, showing the man coming closer.

serena began to to breath heavily, now becoming increasingly scared. jj tapped the side of serena's leg softly, signaling for her to hop up off of him and she did so immediately. she was now pressed to the side of the coop next to kiara who was still crying.

jj then rustled to the other side of the coop, grabbing the rooster in attempt to silence it. the sound of the man's footsteps got increasingly closer causing jj to have no choice than to snap the roosters neck. the sound of its neck breaking and the silence that followed caused serena to gasp and hold a hand to her mouth.

kiara let out a painful whimper and tried her best to control her sobbing. serena grabbed the girl, causing kiara to look over at her with tears in her eyes. serena pulled the girl towards her softly and let kiara hide her face in the side of her neck. the two girls couldn't stand one another but they both needed a little bit of comfort so they chose to put their differences aside.

serena put her arms around the girl and rubbed her back in attempt to comfort her. serena stared at jj who looked down at the rooster in his hands with pure devastation written all over his face. he looked up, making eye contact with serena as a tear rolled down her plump cheek and he felt even more guilty.

though the sound of the man's footsteps stopped followed by a yell from the other man who hurried him to the truck eased jj's mind slightly. the farther away from serena the man got the more content jj felt.

the sound of the other man's voice speaking threw them all off, "is that a cameron car?"

serena's eyes widened as she realized that her car was parked out front next to the twinkie. the group all turned to look at her and her breathing began to shake. how the hell could this men know what her car looked like?

"as in ward cameron?" the other man questioned back and they heard a hum in response.

"yeah, look at the plate." serena mentally slapped herself for customizing her liscence plate to 'XO CMRON'. it was a stupid decision she made when she was newly sixteen.

the group looked at her in a 'seriously?' type of way and she shrugged with a grimace. jj shook his head to himself, realizing that this whole thing wasn't just putting serena in temporary danger but possibly long term danger.

"sure is." the man confirmed, "it's three, we gotta go."

the man nodded to the other, taking a moment to examine serena's car once more before turning around. the pair got back in the truck they arrived in, the sound of truck doors slamming flooding the group with relief.

the sound of tires rotating and crunching the leaves that riddled john b's yard filled the air as the square groupers finally drove away. once the chateau was officially filled with silence, signaling the square groupers were gone, the group slowly made their way out of the chicken coop one by one. none of them dared to say a word, just the sound of foot steps against the dirt in the air.

once they were all finally out they exhaled a breath of relief, still shaken up by what could've happened. they all kind of stood still, the silence loud, as they tried to process what just happened to all of them. serena was filled with pure fear and confusion as to who exactly those guys were and why they were after john b.

"what the hell just happened?" serena finally spoke, needing answers as to why they were just almost killed by two square groupers.

the pogues remained silent, quickly exchanging glances that made it obvious that they didn't want to tell the girl. none of them felt like they could trust serena whatsoever. she had done them a solid but that didn't mean she was a brand new person. she was still the same former pogue turned kook princess.

"hey greasers, that wasn't a rhetorical question!" serena referred to them as greasers from the outsiders causing the pogues to roll their eyes, a perfect example of serena still being her usual kook self.

"who were those men? why were they after you guys? what did you do?" she turned to jj while pointing an accusatory finger, assuming something jj did was the reason those men where after them.

"i didn't do anything!" jj exclaimed, offended that she though this all had happened because of him.

"we kind of did something." pope spoke up, referring to the fact they had ruined the guys' boat the day before which serena had no clue about.

"serena, we can't answer those questions." john b said, leaning against a tree with his hands in his pockets.

"because you don't have the answers or because you don't trust me?" she questioned the group and was met with pure silence.

the pogues sudden lack of noise was an answer in itself. it was the latter, they didn't trust serena as far as they could throw her. they didn't want her to know that they could potentially find the royal merchant because they didn't want to share with an already rich kook. kiara excluded of course.

"wow." serena scoffed and shook her head at the groups silence and lack of eye contact.

"what, you just expect us all to suddenly be best friends and braid each others hair because you did us one favor?" kiara asked sarcastically causing a small twinge in serena's heart.

she wasn't exactly sure what she expected now that she thought of it. she knew that the few moments they had inside of big john's office was the most included in anything she had felt in years. she felt like she was a part of something for a change.

though she knew deep in her core that this changed nothing. they were still pogues and she was a kook, simple as that. jj still did what he did and serena still ignored him for two years. nothing had changed, the present was still just as messy as the past.

"whatever, i'm leaving." serena ignored the previous question and turned on her heels that were now the second pair covered in dirt and chicken poop due to the chateau, heading to her car.

"no no no! you can't go." jj suddenly ran after the girl and skidding on sticks as he came to halt in front of her, holding his hands out to stop her.

"why not?" she asked in annoyance.

"because you're just as much involved in all of this as we are." jj reminded the girl that she was now, no matter how much they wanted to deny it, apart of this whole thing.

"am i? because you won't even tell me what i'm involved in." serena pointed out and was once again met with nothing.

jj's eyes darted around the space around them, trying to think of any way they could get her to stay without fully involving her in this danger. he kept telling himself that he didn't want serena involved because he didn't want to share the gold but he knew deep down it was because she could get hurt.

jj's silence angered serena even more and she pushed past him, "exactly. i'm out of here."

"wait," he called once more, grabbing her arm to spin her towards the group, "those guys are clearly out for blood and thanks to you, they know who you are now."

"thanks to me?!" serena spat in disbelief. how was literally any of this her fault?

"xo cameron, really? how much more valley girl could you get?" jj pointed to the girls liscence plate that was framed in silver sequins.

"i was sixteen!" she tried to defend herself.

"that wasn't that long ago!" jj countered, reminding her of the fact that she was only seventeen.

serena was quite for a moment before she shrugged, "okay, yeah that one's kinda on me. but how was i supposed to know that two square groupers were gonna show up?"

"another reason why you shouldn't show up to my house unannounced." john b commented from a few feet away.

his words caused serena's eyes to fill with fire. she shoved jj to the side, him stumbling back, as she walked closer to the other pogues and pointed at john b.

"don't get me started on you and you're stupid farm! thanks to you, i've ruined two pairs of shoes and almost died!" serena drew attention to her dirt covered shoes but john b rolled his eyes.

"i don't have a farm!" he exclaimed loudly, defending the chateau.

serena glared at the boy and pointed to the chicken coop that now held a dead rooster. john b looked over to see the coop and was silenced, he had no rebuttal to the fact that a chicken was in fact just killed on his "farm".

"i'm leaving." serena said once more, turning away from the pogues and stomping towards her car.

the group all watched the girl leave, most of them happy to see the girl go but jj wasn't whatsoever. jj watched anxiously as the girl pulled her car door open violently, jumping inside as fast as possible.

with every second that passed, the closer she got to leaving, jj felt his heart constricting. he didn't know why he cared about the fact serena could get hurt, he just did. he wasn't sure when her wellbeing became important to him again, maybe it had never stopped, but he knew that he didn't want her to get hurt.

more importantly he didn't want her to get hurt in the name of some stupid mission they were all on. he didn't want her to get hurt when he could prevent it. so he quickly ran to the side of the girls car, planting his hands on the opening where the window was rolled down.

serena gasped a little, looking over to see the boy with a sternest look she had ever seen. he stood there a heaving blonde mess, staring up at the girl practically begging her to stay. his eyes were filled with nothing but worry.

"you have to stay." he said once more and serena looked at him for a moment. she was confused on why he wanted her to stay so bad. she was confused on everything to be honest, she wanted answers and they weren't going to give them to her.

"why do you care so much?" she asked the most imperative question, the question that could change everything.

he could admit everything in his answer, he could tell he what was happening. he could tell her that he was worried about her, about what could happen to her because of what he was involved in. he could beg her to stay, telling her that he would rather die than let her leave if there was even the slightest possibility that she could be injured.

or he could be absolutely silent, which he was.

serena scoffed slightly to herself, putting her car into drive and looking at the boy one last time, "that's what i thought. just leave me alone, jj. god knows you've done a pretty damn good job at it these last two years."

and with that, serena pulled off quickly, her tired spitting leaves and dirt around. jj stared as the girls car got further and further away from the chateau. he felt the guilt begin to consume him when her words really sunk in. how could he have messed this up again?

𝗮𝘂𝗯𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀!
hey so this chapter is so
incredibly long that i almost had
an aneurism writing it

also thank y'all sm for the love
it's so sweet i love reading ur
comments so so much!

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